HOUSTON — The Bengals had been one of the NFL’s hottest teams, but their inept offense showed
signs of trouble as Cincinnati headed into the postseason.

The team’s highest offensive output was 267 yards as it ended the regular season with three
wins. In three of their final four games, including a loss to Dallas, the Bengals failed to score
more than 23 points.

Their No. 22 ranking in total offense was the lowest among the 12 playoff teams, and a
sputtering attack was too much to overcome yesterday in a 19-13 AFC wild-card loss to the Houston
Texans.

“We weren’t able to do our part offensively,” said Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Green, who caught five
passes for 80 yards, all in the second half.The Bengals failed to score an offensive touchdown for
the second time in three games and failed to convert any of their nine third-down chances while
totaling 198 yards against the Texans.

“We needed to be more consistent,” said quarterback Andy Dalton, who passed for only 127 yards. “
We weren’t, and the result speaks for itself.”

Not enough heat

The Bengals finished the regular season third in the NFL with a franchise-record 51 sacks, but
they didn’t have any against Texans quarterback Matt Schaub, who completed 29 of 38 passes for 262
yards.

“We didn’t get him in third-down situations,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. “A lot of their
passing game is three-step drops. You’re not going to get a lot of pressure against them unless you
get them in third down.”

Over the regular season’s final eight weeks, Cincinnati ranked first in the NFL in average
points allowed (12.8 per game), second in sacks (31), second in turnovers (19) and third in average
yards allowed (307.4).

But the Bengals allowed the Texans to convert 8 of 17 third-down chances and gave up 140 rushing
yards and one TD to Arian Foster.

“We didn’t have the dominating performance on defense that we were expecting,” defensive end
Michael Johnson said. “We let them in the end zone one time, and that was one time too many. We
gave up too many yards (420). We should have done a better job stopping Foster on first and second
down.”

Ugly streaks

Cincinnati has lost five consecutive playoff games since its 41-14 first-round win over the
Houston Oilers on Jan. 6, 1991.

The 22-season drought is the NFL’s longest current streak and ties the Bengals for
seventh-longest along with the New York Giants (1959 to 1980) and Los Angeles Rams (1952 to
1973).

Lewis, the NFL’s second-longest-tenured coach behind New England’s Bill Belichick, is now
79-84-1 in 10 seasons with the Bengals, including 0-4 in the playoffs.

Nine coaches have been in the league at least five seasons. Among them, only Lewis and Atlanta’s
Mike Smith haven’t won in the playoffs.

Bengals defensive back Nate Clements, a former Ohio State player, had nine tackles yesterday but
still hasn’t won a playoff game in 12 seasons with Cincinnati, San Francisco and Buffalo.

Moving over

Clements moved from cornerback to safety because Chris Crocker, the usual starter, was not made
active for the game. Crocker missed practice all week after suffering a thigh injury last week
against Baltimore.